“Discontent
is the want of self-reliance: it is infirmity of will.” –Ralph Waldo
Emerson

The
tragedies of Hurricane Katrina continue and help, aid, and assistance
is belatedly trickling into the devastated area.

In addition
to the ubiquitous visual images of flood-ravaged victims, two equally
disturbing images supplement the graphic catastrophic images.

1. We hear
local authorities spin their complicity to problems with blame casting.
2. We see assorted special interest elements exploiting the natural
disaster to further personal, professional and political agendas.

Former
Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating recently uttered a very significant and
largely overlooked empirical axiom, ”leadership at the local level is
EVERYthing…” HOOAH!

While
filling in for Chris Core on WMAL Friday night and discussing the aftermath
of Hurricane Katrina one caller said, “It’s all Bush’s fault!” Huh?

This
brand of brain flatulence myopia falls under category #2 (above) as one
of those exploiting the natural disaster to further an agenda, regardless
of facts and evidence that contradicts the preconceived opinion or prejudice.

Was the president
responsible for the weather?

Was he responsible
for local officials ignoring his pleas to evacuate?

o Prior
to the storm’s landfall Bush said he “cannot stress enough the dangers
this hurricane poses to Gulf Coast communities.” o "I urge all citizens to put their own safety and the safety
of their families first by moving to safe ground," he said.

Was he responsible
for the incompetence of the New Orleans Mayor?

Did he order
school and municipal buses not be used in the evacuation?

o "Scores
of New Orleans school buses are sitting in flood waters after Hurricane
Katrina instead of being used to evacuate thousands of poor people
before Katrina hit. o Almost 400 New Orleans Regional transportation Authority
buses are also now under water, never used for the evacuation of
the neediest of the City's citizens."

Did he fail to
protect the local infrastructure…and was that even his job?

The
answer to all the above (and more is ‘No’).

This
is a complex and devastating situation that could have been mitigated
and wasn’t.

Mother
nature had already plotted New Orleans for a fire mission…it wasn’t a
question of IF but WHEN a major Category 3 or larger Hurricane hammered
the artificial bowl of the Big Easy.

An old
Army buddy wrote, “This wasn't a sneak hurricane attack. They have been
tracking this Lady for weeks and knew she was a Class 5 storm. They new
exactly her land fall and surly New Orleans was a bucket ready to be filled.”

This
former Special Forces/Retired DEA Agent said, “If this country can’t handle
a natural disaster, with an abundance of warning, I shudder to think what
would transpire if a major terrorist attack occurred.”

He isn’t
the Lone Range. What IF we had been (or ARE) hit with a biological or
nuclear terrorist attack? If Katrina is any suggestion of how we will
respond we are S.O.L.

As with
9/11 and previous natural disasters from Hurricanes to Earthquakes…from
Blizzards to Tornados, it is (and will always be) the LOCAL first responders
who do the heavy lifting.

At best,
the feds are a bridging mechanism and supplemental resource provider.

Beyond
the miserable, incompetent job performance of local authorities, there
was/is another contributing factor to the chaos and it was manufactured
by the government.

Several
observers have commented on the disproportionate number of black faces
in the growing file footage of post-Katrina New Orleans.

That
is largely a function of demographics and the fact the media has focused
on New Orleans and not ventured into the surrounding devastation. Orleans
county is 67.3% Black. Were a camera crew to venture into Hancock Mississippi
with only 6.8% black population, the file footage would look different.

The
Orleans county black population is largely poor. Presumably many have
been ‘conditioned’ to expect government to ‘help’.

The
focus has been on the victims stuck in New Orleans. But how many packed
up and left (as the President urged the Mayor to order)? How many who
couldn’t get transportation just walked out?

When
did individual self-reliance morph into waiting for the government to
solve your problem?

The
horrific deaths of thousands of innocent Americans rip the fabric of the
republic, yet remarkably… bureaucratic territorial imperatives, politics
and careerism have become impediments to the truth?